Everafter
by hello heartbreak
Summary: Sometimes, marriage isn't all about happily ever after. — InuKago, InuKikyou


_Disclaimer: Inuyasha doesn't belong to me, both the show and the character._

_Author's Notes: Flames will be used to fry Jaken. Thank you **darkspryte**, for beta-ing this fic!_

---

**Everafter  
**_in the summer rains_

In a way, they could be considered as high school sweethearts. After all, Higurashi Kagome had been sixteen when she met Inuyasha. As for Inuyasha, let's just dismiss the fact that he's really more than sixty-five (or something).

As protagonists (the show is _named_ after Inuyasha, for god's sake) always do somehow or other, the two of them fell in love with each other through various life-and-death situations. They were **meant to be**. It was like a Korean drama serial, Inuyasha's girlfriend died and another one popped out looking exactly the same as her. It was an unspoken rule that they _would _end up together.

And then, they got married. It wasn't an elaborate affair; the only ones invited were a few close friends like Miroku and Sango. Kagome felt that everything was rather a blur; everything was rushed. Inuyasha didn't even propose to her! The whole thing just… _happened. _She wasn't even sure if her groom was pleased about it. He was silent throughout the whole ceremony, wriggling uncomfortably in his new clothes.

Kagome never did know how she could bear to leave her family back in the 21st century. Sure, she visited several times a year on memorably occasions like birthdays. But time in Souta's world always passed much more quickly.

Soon after, she attended her mother's funeral, looking not much older than before. She was glad it was purely a family event. Questions about her age were bound to arise. The memorial service was done quickly and swiftly. Despite the depressing atmosphere, she couldn't help but feel proud of her brother. He had grown into such an efficient young man. Yet, the siblings didn't even utter a single word to each other; not even an exchange of greetings. Souta's cold gaze drove daggers into her heart. He had never quite forgiven her for forsaking the family.

The first few years of marriage were pretty much the same as before. Endless bickering, constant shouts of "OSUWARI!" and crashes of Inuyasha flopping onto the ground_ yet_ again. Occasionally, a demon would come and wreak havoc, but Kagome (with her bow and arrow) and Inuyasha (with his brute strength and wonder-sword) would defeat it easily. After all, even the oh-so-powerful Naraku trouble had been resolved. This couple could take a few more lesser-demons without much problem.

The summer rains would come and go, as the years passed by. Kagome liked standing in the rain together with Inuyasha, feeling the sky tears soak them to skin. Those times were always so peaceful. Both of them would always end up catching whooping colds after that but it was worth it (plus, Kagome rather liked seeing Inuyasha sneeze like a puppy with his silver hair all fluffed up at the fireplace).

But, as we all know, marriage is never really smooth-sailing, unlike fairytales, where all of them "live happily ever after".

Sometimes, Kagome found that they had nothing in common. Dinner at the table became a dreaded thing, where the silence was so thick that she felt like throwing her plate at her husband. _He, _however, was rather indifferent about the whole thing. She wondered if age made dog demons become subdued and cold - Sesshomaru was a good example.

In the mornings, he went out barefoot without so much as telling her where he was headed. She forgave him for that, since demons weren't meant to be cooped up in the house. But she speculated about where he went and secretly wished he would take her along now and then. He never did.

Gradually, even the special times they spent with each other under the light summer showers grew lesser and lesser, until they stopped altogether. Kagome remained silent about this matter, even though it wrenched at her heart. Her silver-haired spouse didn't notice the change. She pondered over how she never noticed how dense he was. Subconsciously, she was beginning to keep a growing list of all his negative points.

Kagome, being Kagome, felt that it was her responsibility to check what was wrong with this marriage and rectify it. She tried all the methods she could think of. There was the "I'm-great-wife-and-that's-why-you-should-love-me" plan, and the "I'm-ignoring-you-hah" scheme, even the "let's-have-kids" idea.

As we can all guess, none worked, quite alike the way most Kagome's brilliant plans of saving the day always ended.

Oh wait.

The "let's-have-kids" method didn't exactly _work, _but several revelations were made on that night.

As she felt his silky hair caress her naked body and his strong arms holding her down on the futon, it somehow felt different from the time they last experienced it a long time ago when they were still very much in love with each other.

All she could sense was the desire to _mate._ No love existed. Staring up at his golden eyes, she realized that he had changed, at least in the aspect of loving her. The eyes she peered into were no different from all the other demons they had slain. Closing her eyes, she felt his lips on hers, bruising, numbing, hurting. But nothing hurt more than the truth she had just uncovered.

Or so she perceived.

* * *

Kaede lived to a ripe age that no other human being could have managed. But she still left the world. Out of courtesy, Inuyasha and Kagome went back to the village (now rather dilapidated) to attend her elaborate funeral. She _was_ the village's beloved priestess after all.

The moon hung high in the sky, illuminating the whole landscape. A solitary figure stood before a grave, the words engraved on the stone barely visible. He didn't look very different from the time a fair priestess sealed him onto a tree with an arrow in the same village.

He bent down, touching the tombstone ever so gently. His fingers traced the carved words. _Kikyou,_ it read. Simple and clean. She had never been one of many words.

As Kagome watched her hanyou spouse kneel down before the oh-so-familiar grave, she felt numbed. Just numb, without feeling.

And then the rush of emotions came in a big _whoosh._

She was amazed that the first thing she thought of was how she'd wasted half her life trying to be someone else. It dawned on her that _this_ was probably the reason that her relationship with Inuyasha had fallen apart. He'd probably grasped the fact that Higurashi Kagome was not Kikyou, and probably will never be.

---

And so, the summer rains come and go; and Kagome continues to smile as she feels the rain pelt down from the skies and onto her, drenching her from head to toe. They're washing her sorrows away.

_Once upon a time, in a land far far away,  
__There lived a dog demon who loved a priestess.  
__But things went wrong and they turned on each other.  
__The priestess died and she cursed the dog demon to remain in slumber forever.  
__Years later, a girl who looked the same as the priestess appeared.  
__She unsealed the dog demon with her great powers.  
__Then they fell in love and they lived happily ever after. _

Kagome knows that fairytales don't exist in real life. People in damned reality never get to live happily _ever after._

_---_

_end._


End file.
